Heroes (Eirik Book 2)

by Ednah Walters

  He went a little pale, his eyes narrowing on Echo and Syn.

  “We’re talking about Immortals who have been around for centuries, Chief Deveraux. They wear suits, have private jets, and run multi-billion dollar companies, but no one knows them or what they can do. They have people making sure you never see their faces. They can move faster than anything you know, including man-made machines. They are super strong, can become invisible, open a portal, and disappear before you turn the keys to their jail cells. Only our kind of justice works here.”

  “So this sketch my daughter gave me...?” He waved the sketchpad.

  “Is useless, I’m afraid. I know you are worried about her, but Celestia will be okay. All these men and women would protect her with their lives.”

  “Reapers,” he murmured.

  “Yes.”

  “Because of you?” He sounded less angry now.

  “Partly, and partly because of her. She’s earned their loyalty.” Celestia was no longer watching us. She was showing Trudy pictures and trophies in a display case. “It started four months ago, but she’s now part of our world.”

  “I assume you’re not just talking about the Witches’ world here.”

  “No, sir. I’m talking about a much larger universe.”

  “Realms, the gods, and soul reapers,” he murmured and shook his head. “I don’t like it. Not one little bit.”

  I didn’t respond, and for one brief moment, he glowered as though blaming me for everything. I was willing to take the blame if he’d accept who and what I was. Celestia was mine whether he liked it or not. His acceptance would be important for her. Me, I’d have no problem keeping her in my realm without his consent if it meant keeping her safe.

  “I may not like that she is part of your world, as you call it,” he added, “but I guess I’ll have to accept it. However, she’s still my daughter and she means the world to me. I don’t trust just anyone with her.”

  “I understand,” I said.

  “Then prove that I can trust you, Eirik Baldurson.”

  “I’m trying, sir.”

  “Get her out of town and keep her safe while your people sort out this problem. Tonight. I don’t like the idea of her spending another day in this town. Tammy hasn’t returned my calls and that’s enough to know she’s not on some shopping trip. She’s part of what’s going on.” He paused and waited for my response. I nodded. “I thought as much. I cannot protect Celestia when I don’t understand what I’m up against.” He peered into my eyes. “I’m giving you a chance to prove to me that you are trustworthy, Baldurson, and that what you swore this morning still holds.”

  “I will protect her with every breath I have, sir.”

  “How long does a portal take to form?”

  “Seconds.”

  “I want her gone as soon as a possible, and do not come back without contacting me first.”

  Something was off about the chief’s request. He’d been okay letting her go to Hayden’s this morning, and according to Rhys, he’d had no problem when they’d left this evening. What had happened since then?

  “What’s going on, sir?”

  Anger flashed in his eyes. “Just get her out of town. You have the means and the manpower should you run into trouble.” His eyes went to the Grimnirs.

  Okay, he was definitely hiding something. “Yes, sir.”

  “Take Hayden and Zack, too. They’ll make sure you behave.”

  It was my turn to be annoyed. “Sir, I would never take advantage of your daughter.”

  “I was not born yesterday, young man. I’ve seen the way you look at her. I expect the man who spoke inside that auditorium to treat my daughter with the same courtesy and respect. Just remember to contact me before you bring her back.”

  What the hell was going on? The man sounded scared, yet I was sure it had nothing to do with body snatchers or the Immortals killing Witches. I was still mulling over the change in his attitude when we rejoined the others. He pressed a kiss on Celestia’s temple again.

  “Have a nice spring break, sweetheart,” was all he said. Then he was striding toward the entrance.

  “What was that about?” Celestia asked and looked at me expectantly. She had introduced Hayden and Zack to Karle and Trudy, but the Grimnirs kept their distance and stood apart—Echo and Syn were on one side while the other four were by the windows.

  “Your car is still at Hayden’s place?”

  “Yes. Ranger parked it in the back. What did Dad tell you?”

  “He heard my speech tonight and got spooked. He wants you to come with us to Hel’s Hall until things calms down. Hayden and Zack, too.”

  She blinked in shock. “What? Why didn’t he just tell me that? Why all the theatrics?”

  “I guess he knew you’d want to know why.”

  “You got that right. They agreed to issue a Call, which means all Witches—”

  “Your father doesn’t want you involved.”

  “He knows I have to help. I’ll call him.” She reached in her back pocket and groaned. “I must have left my phone at home. Hayden’s too.”

  “You won’t need them. Can you explain to Hayden and Zack what’s going on while I talk to Echo?” She looked ready to argue. “Please. I think this is your father testing me, again. If I can’t convince you three to come with me, so I can protect you, I’ll fail in his eyes.” She sighed and nodded. Karle wore the confused look of someone out of his element. Rhys and his troop kept their distance while Echo and Syn moved closer.

  “I’m finally on Earth,” Trudy said, barely containing her excitement. “It’s awesome.”

  Awesome? She was in a small town no one had ever heard of and a school that was only several years old, not exactly the hub of Earthly awesomeness. But I didn’t want to burst her bubble, so I smiled and focused on Karle.

  “Nice to see you, buddy.” I punched his arm. “I’ve been waiting for you for four days. I thought you stood me up.”

  Instead of responding, Karle frowned and looked more uncomfortable.

  “We’re on Earth, Eirik,” Trudy explained. “There’s not enough magic energy to tap in on, channel our will, and bridge the language barrier. He can only speak dragon or Jötun language. That’s why I’m here. After I told The Golden One you’d asked me to go to Jötunheim with you, he said I could act as a translator.”

  “We’re going to Jötunheim?” Syn asked.

  I ignored him and locked eyes with Echo. Every senior reaper had several junior reapers under them. Since he was Syn’s superior, he had some explaining to do. Applause came from the auditorium, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the meeting ended and people wandered outside. I didn’t want to be mobbed again.

  “Let’s get out of here. Hayden, can we use your store?”

  “Sure.” She pulled out an artavus, created a portal, and led Zack through it. He chuckled and looked around with interest, asking her details about the portal. Syn watched Hayden with rapt fascination. The Grimnir didn’t stand a chance. From what I’d seen, Hayden and Zack were crazy about each other.

  Trudy and Karle followed. Celestia tugged my hand. She looked worried. I hated seeing her worried. I hoped it wasn’t about coming home with me. If I had to carry her through the portal, I was going to do it. Something had spooked her father enough to practically beg me to get her out of town. Once she was safely at home, I planned to come back and find out what was going on. I needed to make sure he was safe too.

  “It’s okay,” I reassured her.

  “What’s going on? I asked Trudy, but she said Karle insisted on talking to you.”

  Hayden turned on the lights inside the store as we entered. While Trudy looked around with the wonder of a kid at the circus, Karle stayed close. He looked tense. Rhys and his team spread out. I was okay with them. I needed to hear from Echo, and I didn’t like the weird negative vibes between him and Rhys.

  “What’s going on, Echo?” I asked.

  “Why are we going to J�
�tunheim?” Syn said.

  “I’m sure the Jötun girl’s gotten over your betrayal, Syn,” Echo said, but his eyes were focused on me. “The dragon boy arrived half an hour ago and kept saying he wanted to see you. The guards told him you were out, but he insisted on talking to you, so they called your father. After a brief meeting, the Golden One sent Trudy to find us and we got our orders to bring him to you ASAP.”

  “Don’t forget the second part,” Syn said. “We are to give him support. Now it’s our turn to ask what’s going on.”

  “Trudy?” I looked around, but she’d disappeared. “TRUDY!”

  She peered at us from the aisle. Her arms were full of things she’d picked up around the store—jewelry, earrings, bracelets, T-shirts, stuffed animals, and several dragon goblets.

  “Can I get these?” she asked.

  “Sure.” I pulled out a credit card and slapped it on the counter. I tried to understand her excitement, but I had to know what was going on with Karle. “Translate whatever he says.”

  She dumped her goodies on the counter, and while Hayden rang them up, she said something to Karle. He started talking and became more and more agitated as he continued. Rhys moved closer and from their expressions, he understood some of the things Karle was saying. Most of them had been reapers long enough to have picked up languages spoken in all the realms. Trudy took Karle’s arm, and he slowly calmed down. She, on the other hand, became tearful. When he indicated Celestia, something cold settled in my chest. Seeing tears roll down Trudy’s face only made things worse. I tried to put my arms around her and console her, but she shook her head.

  “I’m okay.” She wiped her cheeks. “He was reliving the fear he felt sneaking out of his village, and I felt like I was there with him.”

  “You felt his fear?” Celestia asked.

  “I can get inside people’s heads and see their thoughts and memories, or just feel what they’re feeling. I hate doing it because it messes with my head and my emotions. It is better when I feed them those memories and feelings instead of absorbing them.”

  “So what did he say?” I asked.

  “Your grandmother arrived in their village on Saturday morning and everything shut down. No one was allowed to leave. She came alone, but by evening, about forty boys and girls dressed like Celestia had joined her. They were confused and scared. She called them her orphans.”

  Anger pumped through my veins, and scales appeared on my arms. Celestia reached over and gripped my hand. Her close proximity kept me from shifting and roaring with rage.

  “Was there a brunette with green eyes with them?” Hayden asked, and reality returned. We were close, but things could still go wrong.

  Trudy translated Hayden’s question, and Karle nodded.

  “Oh God.” Hayden covered her mouth, tearing up. Zack put his arms around her. The next second, she ran around the counter and threw up. Zack did his duty as her boyfriend and held back her hair. She must have been worried. The question of how they’d moved between realms still remained.

  “When did Karle leave home?” I asked.

  “This evening,” Trudy explained after consulting with Karle. “He sneaked out, using the darkness. Only his sister Olea knows he left the village, and she’s covering for him. He has to go back tonight before they discover he’s gone.”

  “We’re taking you home tonight. Tell him that.” I gripped Karle’s shoulder and patted his chest. This was the best news in months. “Everyone needs to be warmly dressed for the flight to the pass. Karle can carry some of you, and I’ll carry the rest.” I glanced at Hayden. She looked like crap. “You okay?”

  She nodded. “I’ll get ready.”

  She opened a portal to their apartment, and she and Zack disappeared through it.

  “I’ll get my suitcase from the car and change too,” Celestia said, but I caught her hand before she could leave. I was not letting her out of my sight.

  “One of the guys will get it. I don’t want you going outside on your own.”

  “I wasn’t planning on it. Ranger parked my car and never gave me the keys.” She pried her hand free. “Stop acting like I’m helpless.”

  The former Texan opened a portal to where he’d parked her car and retrieved her suitcase. I watched them the entire time, a fact that didn’t escape Celestia.

  “Can I go upstairs to change without you freaking out on me?” she asked.

  “Only if Nara goes with you.”

  “Seriously?” Celestia rolled her eyes. “Fine. Come on, Nara. Trudy, you too. You might as well see what a real Earth home looks like.”

  “No, Trudy stays. I need to explain a few things to the guys and she needs to hear this. She might have questions.”

  “No, I don’t,” Trudy said, shaking her head. “I know everything now. I saw your father’s memories and felt the pain of keeping this secret for years when he and Karle were talking. I never understood how he could be happy with the goddess yet was also so tortured. He hid it from everyone, except me.” Her eyes welled and her voice shook. “I thought he missed you and your sister, and I’d take away his pain like I did your mother’s. Tonight, I shared his memories as he interrogated Karle. It was the first and only time I’ve ever done that. I know you think he should have told your mother the truth, Eirik, but he chose to carry this burden alone rather than watch her suffer the pain of living with the truth for seventeen years.”

  “He told you that?” I asked, trying to understand her abilities and absorb what she was saying about my father.

  She swiped at her wet cheeks. “No, I got it from his head. I would not have done it if he hadn’t cried while listening to Karle describe the orphans, how scared and confused they were. Your father is a very sensitive man and feels things very deeply. When this is over, he’ll finally be at peace, not just your mother.” She took a deep breath and glanced at Celestia. “Let’s go.”

  Celestia’s eyes lingered on me for a second, love and understanding shining in them. Then the three women disappeared upstairs and silence followed. The Grimnirs looked confused, except Rhys. His jaw was clenched, his expression unreadable.

  “Do you want to tell us what in Hel’s Mist is going on?” Echo asked.

  “Trudy absorbs emotions, happy or unhappy, and manipulates memories,” I said and rotated my shoulders. It explains why she sometimes looked so sad and miserable around Mother.

  “I meant about your grandmother and the orphans from Earth,” Echo said. “What does that have to do with our goddess?” The other three nodded.

  I was not in the mood to explain everything about my grandmother, but there was no evading it. I was done finding excuses for her.

  “I’m only going to explain this once, so come closer please. Karle, look around the store and see if there’s anything you’d like to get for your sister or mom.”

  Rhys translated what I said, and Karle grinned. The two of them went to browse, leaving me with Echo and the other three Grimnirs.

  “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll be blunt. My sister, Einmyria, is not dead.” I paused to let the information sink in. Curses came from the three Grimnirs while Echo stayed quiet, his face pale, eyes acquiring a weird orange glow I had never seen before. Even when I’d fought him about Cora, his eyes had always glowed gold. “My grandmother kidnapped her and the Norns covered it up. I’ve been searching for her the last four months. Rhys and Nara tried for seventeen years but couldn’t find her, and this is why.”

  No one spoke as I explained about my grandmother biting orphans to build an army of loyalists, the Norns taking the orphans from the other realms to Earth to be raised by Immortals the same way I was raised, and how we’d found them.

  “The Norns must have found out her plans or something. They never act without a reason. I don’t care what my grandmother’s reasons are for binding these children to her. It doesn’t justify what she did to Einmyria. She kidnapped her and bit her out of spite and to make my parents suffer, especially my mother,�
� I added, knowing how pissed they’d all be on her behalf. If there was one thing I could count on when it came to Grimnirs, it was their loyalty to her.

  This time, the silence was even longer, but I felt their anger build. Echo’s eyes were flaming lights of orange, his hand clenching the edge of the counter he’d been leaning on. The wood turned to sawdust as he crushed it, but I doubted he noticed.

  “Why didn’t your father tell us?” Syn asked and glanced at Echo. “We would have helped search for her. There are hundreds of us.”

  “My father wanted a discreet investigation.”

  “So every time you took off from the hall, you were searching for your grandmother around Helheim?” Daiku asked.

  I nodded.

  “She still doesn’t know, does she?” Echo asked, his voice gruff.

  “No, my mother doesn’t know about Einmyria. I asked my father to tell her, but he believes her rage would not be contained. She would wage a war on the Norns and rip this world apart to find Einmyria. She might be less angry once my sister is safely at home.”

  Echo stood. “When do we leave for Jötunheim?”

  “As soon as Celestia and the others are ready.”

  “I need to pack a few things,” he said.

  “Me, too,” Syn said.

  “No, Syn. I’ll bring enough arsenals for everyone.” Echo opened a portal. Before it closed behind him, we heard his howl of rage.

  “Holy shit! I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that pissed,” Syn said.

  “I have,” Rhys said. “He has a thing about betrayal. He will tear apart anyone who dares to stand in our way. That’s one good thing about him. He is a formidable warrior.”

  “You two have a history?” Daiku asked.

  “Some,” was all Rhys said, and he walked away.

  CHAPTER 20. HARBINGER OF DEATH

  CELESTIA

  Since Zack and Hayden were in her bedroom, I used the bathroom to change. I could hear the sounds from the living room as Nara showed Trudy around. The microwave dinged more than once.